Oil burner



.w. MILLER OIL BURNER Filed Aug. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. F. MILLER July10, 1928.

OIL BURNER Filed Aug. 4, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patente July 10, 1928.

WILLIAM. F. MILLER, 01 BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

OIL BURNER.

Application filed August 4, 1927. Serial No. 210,569.

This invention relates generally to improvements in oil burners but moreparticularly to oil burners of the centrifugal type.

One of its objects is the provision of an efficient and economicalburner of this character which can be readily installed in furnaces nowin use without materially altering their construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and effective meansfor conveniently regulating the air supply to the burner for intimatelymixing it with the atomized fuel.

A further object'is the provision of a 1 domestic oil burner which issimple, compact and inexpensive in construction, which is designed toburn a low grade cheap oil and at the same time produce a maximum amountof heat, and whose parts are so 2 organized and arranged as to requireno adjustments after installation.

Other features of my invention reside in the construction andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and particularly 2 pointedout in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section of a furnaceshowing my improved burner installed therein. Figure 2 is a horizontalsection thereof on line 2-2, Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlargedfragmentary'vertical sect-ion of the burner taken in the plane of line3-3,

Figure 2. Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 4-4,Figure 3. Figure 5 is a transverse vertical section on line 55, Figure3. Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

My improved burner is shown installed in a domestic furnace 10 of anywell known construction and including the ash pit 11,

the -combustion chamber 12 and the grates 13. Supportedon the grates isa base plate 14 having a central opening 15 for the admission of air tothe burner and bounding this opening is an upright rim or collar 16 uponwhich a' sleeve 17 is adjustably mounted, the latter terminating at itsup per end in a ring 18 whose opening 19 registers with the openings'ofsaid plate and said sleeve and through which the air is admitted intothe combustion chamber for mixing it with the fuel issuing from theburner. A filling of sand 20 or similar material is arranged in thespace between the base plate 14 and the ring 18. Surmounting the ring 18in axial alinement therewith is a revolving burner plate or atomizing 60disk 21 which is somewhat larger in diameter than the ring-opening 19and which is secured to the upper end of an upright, hollow shaft 22journaled at its lower end in a casing 23 located in the ash-pit of thefurnace and driven from a horizontal driving shaft 24 through the mediumof bevel gears 25, 26. Said driving shaft may be driven by an electricmotor 27. On its underside the atomizing disk has a plurality of radialfan blades 28 which extend into the ring-opening l9 and which direct theair stream coming upwardly through the base plate outwardly around theperiphery of the disk. i

For the purpose of regulating the amount of air to be admitted throughthe ring-opening 19 to the periphery of the atomizing disk, the sleeve17 is vertically-adjustable on the collar 16 to move its ring 18towardor from the bottom of the disk and thereby var the air space 29between the latter and sai ring. To this end, the lower edge of thesleeve has a series of cam faces 30 which engage one or more studs 31projecting from the collar 16, as shown in Figure 1. By turning thesleeve in one direction or the other, it is accordingly raised orlowered and may be held in a fixed position for a given installation byaset screw 32.

The bore 33 of the upright shaft 22 forms a passage for conducting theoil under pressure to the top of the atomizing disk 21, from which it isthrown by centrifugal force, atomized and mixed with the stream of airdelivered by the fan blades 28 through the space 29. At its lower endthis shaftpassage communicates with an opening or intake 34 formed inthe bottom of the easing 23 and connected by a pipe-35 with the outletside of-a suitable gear pump '36, the inlet sidethereof being connectedto a pipe 37 leading to a fuel tank 38 located below the floor line, asshown in Figure 1. This gear pump is preferably mounted on the coverplate 39 of the casing, one of its gears being secured to themotor-shaft 24. Surrounding the shaft 22 is a bearing sleeve 40 whichrises from the top of the casing and is held thereon by a clamping nut41.

Means are provided for lubricating the bearings of the burner mechanismand to this end the gear casing is formed with an integral lubricantchamber 42 in which the gears 25, 26 are immersed and from which thelubricant is circulated to the bearings by a suitable pump mechanism. Inthe embodiment shown in the drawings, reference being bad to Figures 3and 5, a plate 43 is interposed between said casing and its cover plate39 and on its inner face is provided with a chamber 44 in which isarranged an impeller 45 driven by the motor-shaft 24 and cast integralwith the bevel gear 26, if desired. The body of this gear has inletopenings 46 therein by which the lubricant is drawn from the chamber 42into the impeller chamber 44, and the surrounding wall of the latter hasa tangential passage 47 for the discharge of the lubricant to thebearings. A pipe 48 connects this discharge passage with the lower endof the bearing sleeve 40 while a pipe 49 containing a vent 50 connectsthe upper end of the latter with the lubricant chamber'42, whereby aconstant circulation of the lubricant through the bearings is thoroughlyeffected.

Extending upwardly through the sand filling 20 is a gas pipe 51 having apilot burner 52 at its upper end for initially lighting the oil burner.

If the oil burner should for any reason go out, means are provided forautomatically opening the motor switch 53 and stopping the burnermechanism. This is preferably accomplished providing an oil dischargepipe 54 which delivers the unburnt or surplus oil thrown 03 theatomizing disk 21 to a bucket 55 suspended from the end of a weightedlever 56 which normally maintains the switch 53 closed. When sufiicientoil drips into the bucket to overbalance the weighted lever, the switchis automatically opened, thereby cutting off the motor and arresting themovements of the mechanisms governed by it.

As shown in Figures 1 and 4, the fuel outlet pipe 35 of the ump 36 has abranch 57 which leads to the uel tank 38 and which contains a regulatingvalve 58 for controlling the amount of fuel flowing through it.

, By this arrangement only a part of the oil is pumped at a low pressurethrough the hollow shaft to the atomizing disk. Furthermore, thosehorizontal portions of the inlet and outlet pipes immediately adjoiningthe pump 36 are below the plane of the corresponding remaining portionsof such pipes, whereby the pump is rendered selfaevaa'm priming andprompt starting of the burner at all times is insured.

The operation of the burner is as follows After lighting the pilot gasburner 51, the motor switch 52 is closed and the atomizing disk 21 isrotated at a high speed. At the same time the oil is drawn from the tank38 by the gear pump 36 and forced upwardly through the hollow shaft 22to the top face of the atomizing disk, where it is spread uniformly'thereover by centrifugal forceand thrown from the edge of the disk inthe form of a mist or vapor. This thoroughly atomized fuel is thenintimately mixed with the air stream forced through the air space 29 bythe fan blades 28, the sleeve 17 having been previously adjusted toadmit the proper amount of air to insure the ready combustion of theoil. Shortly after starting up the motor the combustible mixture becomesignited by the pilot burner which can thereafter be shut off. Thedesired amount of oil delivered to the burner for regulating the samemay be controlled by a valve 59 arranged in the oil pipe 35. Thisimproved burner produces a flame of large area and delivers a maximumamount of heat at a minimum expenditure of power and at a low fuel cost,inasmuch as it has been designed to operate efliciently on a heavy,cheap grade of oil.

' 1 claim as my invention 1. An oil burner, comprising a base memberadapted to be supported on the grates of a furnace and having an openingfor the passage of air and a rim bounding said opening, a casingdisposed below said base plate, a hollow, upright shaft journaled insaid casing and extending through the opening in said base member, anatomizing disk carrying fan blades on its underside applied to the upperend of said shaft, the top surface of said disk being slightly convexand unflanged, means for rotating the shaft, means for forcing oilupwardly through said shaft on to said atomizing disk, and a sleeveapplied to said base rim and provided at its upper end and below theatomizing disk with a ring, said sleeve being vertically adjustabletoward and from said disk to vary the air space between it and thesleeve-ring, and the atomizing disk extending outward- 1y beyond thering-opening and the fan blades thereof extending into said ring-open-2. An oil burner, comprising a base member adapted to be supported onthe grates of a furnace and having an opening therein for the passage ofair, a second member including a top flange surmounting the base memberand having an opening therein in alinement with the opening in said basemember, a casing disposed below the latter, a hollow upright shaftjournaled in said casma am ing and extending through the openings in theaforesaid members, an atomi zing disk applied to the upper end of saidshaft and carrying fan blades on its underside extend- 5 ing into theopening in said second member, said disk being larger in diameter thansaid last-named opening and spaced from the top flange of the secondmember to provide an air space, means for forcing oil upwardly throughthe shaft onto the atomizing disk,

means for rotatingsaid shaft, and an overflow disposed beneath theperiphery of the flange of said second member, the surplus oil flowingfrom the atomizing disk onto said flange and thence into the overflow.

WILLI F. BHLLER.

